


The Beginning

by daisystars



Series: Weird Town AU [1]
Category: The Walking Dead (Telltale Video Game)
Genre: Canon X OC - Freeform, F/F, F/M, Original Character - Freeform, Weird Town AU, dont worry i have permission to use the oc, im really pumped for this au i hope y’all are too, not my OC, oc credit goes to @ericsonclan, twdg au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-10
Updated: 2020-10-11
Packaged: 2021-03-05 20:41:28
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,325
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25831495
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/daisystars/pseuds/daisystars
Summary: After high school graduation, Louis suggests to his girlfriend that they take a break from life and to have some fun on a couple road trip. Soon enough the couple road trip turns into a friend road trip, and destinations turn out to become strange.
Relationships: Clementine/Louis (Walking Dead: Done Running), Prisha/Violet (Walking Dead: Done Running)
Series: Weird Town AU [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1874290
Comments: 2
Kudos: 19





	1. Part One

“Clementine!”   
  
The sound of Louis’ voice from afar dragged the named girl away from packing her suitcase. She was barely even packing it though, she was now just piling and squeezing all her clothes into it instead of neatly folding them in like Lee would want her to be doing. Glancing up, she looked to see the freckled boy storming into the room with his head held up high, his cell phone clutched in his hands with a rather tight grip and a cheeky grin formed on his face.   
  
“Something wrong?” She asked with a raised brow.    
  
“Nothing’s wrong Clem, everything is incredibly spectacular!” Louis couldn’t wait any longer and flipped the screen over and shoved the phone into Clementine’s face, having the brightness turned up to the max and showing a map on the screen. “Look! It’s a town not super far from here! Okay, I lied, it’s a little bit far. Around a couple hours I think. But! We should totally stop by there first and look for a house there!”   
  
Clementine inspected the destination shown on the phone, a brow raised. “Littleton? Isn’t that place abandoned, though?”   
  
“Wait- is it??” Louis scanned up and down at the provided description, his smile falling while reading and being replaced with a frown. “Damnit, I thought we had something!” He groaned, collapsing down onto the carpeted floors with an aging squeak. The floors were getting old.   
  
Clementine patted his arm in an attempt of comfort. “It’s okay Lou, you didn’t know. Buuuut,” A delighted smirk formed upon her face, dragging out the word for what seemed like forever. 

Louis averted his gaze from the stained carpet he laid on, looking at his girlfriend. “But?”   
  
“If you  _ really _ wanted to,” Clementine tossed a pair of Louis’ underwear to his face so he could finish packing his own suitcase. “We could stop by the town and drive around it for a bit.”   
  
Louis quickly snatched the underwear off his face, looking at the girl with excited eyes. “You mean it?”   
  
“I mean it.”   
  
Louis squealed, snagging the brunette into a gripped hug. “Oh, thank you! I swear, you’re the best!” He then proceeded to smack her face with loads of kisses. The affection made Clementine burst out laughing, swatting the boy’s head away playfully. Louis was stronger, however, and snagged the girl’s hand, cutting off her attempts of squiggling free and just kept smooching her face and ending each kiss with a dramatic ‘mwah’, chuckling softly to himself when his ears perked to the sound of his girlfriend’s laugh.    
  
Suddenly the door to the room creaked open, revealing Clementine’s little brother AJ, who was grasping his favorite dinosaur plushie. The sight of the little boy caused the two high school graduates to freeze, an embarrassed blush forming among both of their faces. The sight made AJ giggle, tightening his grip on the plushie, causing the toy to squeak lightly. “What are you guys doing?” He asked with a slight giggle, knowing he had interrupted something that was a bit… private.   
  
“N-Nothing, kiddo,” Clementine wheezed out softly, wiggling herself free from her boyfriend’s grasp and awkwardly coughing out loud. “Is most of my car loaded up?”   
  
AJ nodded. “Do you have to leave?” He asked softly, a frown plastering itself onto his face.   
  
“I wish you could come with us,” Clementine walked over and gave the little boy a heartful hug, patting his back softly. “But you gotta stay here with Lee and finish up all your school days, then you can come join us, okay?”   
  
“Will we get to watch Disco Broccoli every night?”   
  
“Hell yeah we will,” Louis chimed in from the floor. “Twenty four seven baby!”   
  
Clementine rolled her eyes, reluctantly pulling away from the hug. “You be good for Lee while we’re gone, okay AJ?”   
  
“Okay Clem!” He nodded happily, sending Louis a goodbye hug before racing out of the room and trailing off to his own, the sound of his door shutting echoing throughout the hallway. Louis tossed the pair of underwear from before into his own suitcase, finishing it off and closing it up. “You just about ready babe?”   
  
“Just about,” Clementine tucked in one final shirt before closing up her suitcase. “I really hope this is the right decision.”   
  
“It will be Clem, I promise,” Louis snagged the girl’s suitcase along with his own, standing before the left open door to the bedroom. “Ready to head out?”   
  
Clementine scanned the bedroom they stood in. Her childhood. All being left behind. The paint stains on the walls for all those messy art projects she did whenever she couldn’t sleep and later got a mouthful for it, the sodas she spilled onto her rugs and floor, the friends she had brought in her occasionally, the kisses she first had with boys. And girls. All being left behind, thrown off to the side so they could grow old and become long forgotten. But she’d be back. Clementine knew she would be back in her home again. Someday.   
  
“Yeah, yeah I am.”   
  
———   
  
“And  _ that’s _ how I nearly died.”   
  
Pizza shoved into their mouths, the couple stared at their friend Marlon as he had just finished a story about his long, dreadful journey to meeting up with the two. The blond heard about the couple’s little high school graduation adventure, and of course wanted to tag along on the ride. Originally, it was only supposed to be Clementine and Louis, but they couldn’t say no to one of their close friends. But out of all the places they chose to meet up at, they ended up deciding on a pizza shop in town. It wasn’t all that bad though, the pizza was still one of the best.   
  
“That story sounded fake and real all at the same time.” Clementine plainly admitted, taking a long sip of her soda.   
  
“Hey!” Marlon crossed his arms stubbornly. “It’s all real!”   
  
“Sharks flying around and landing on your car? What has reality become for you,  _ Sharknado _ ?”   
  
Louis, face smeared with tomato sauce, cackled in his seat, tears of laughter filling up and trickling down his cheeks silently. Marlon growled lowly as he took a dramatic bite out of his pizza slice. The sight made Clementine softly snicker, continuing to drink her soda while having a complacent smirk on her face.    
  
“Lou! You’re supposed to be helping me here!”   
  
“I- I’m sorry bro, but-” Louis broke into another fit of laughter, causing Marlon to groan upon prickling up the noise in his ears.    
  
“Relax Marlon, we’re only messing with you!” Louis playfully shoved the blond’s shoulder. “You always get so grumpy over everything.”   
  
“Shut up, Lou. I do not.”   
  
“There it is! That grouchy tone!”

“Alright, alright, knock if off!” Clementine drew the two boys away from each other so they didn’t begin a scene. Eventually she stood, grasping her to-go cup which was filled with her soda. “You two ready to head out? We have a bit of a drive before we find anything fun.”

“Ready as ever,” Marlon threw away the crust to his pizza, which caused Louis to let out a cracked gasp at the sight. “What?”

“Dude, the crust is the best part of a pizza!”

“Uh, no,” Marlon scoffed. “The sauce is.”

“You monster-!”

“Guys!” Clementine’s voice broke through the tension like a bullet shooting through glass, her arms crossed while narrowing her golden eyes at them. “Stop arguing over every damn thing and let's go!”

“Yes ma’am!” The boys said in union, following the girl outside back to the car. The sky had grown from clear and sunny to cloudy and gloomy, signaling it might storm soon. Noticing this, the trio rushed to the car, all of them filing in. Right as the last person slipped into the car, droplets of rain splattered across the windshield, a storm beginning to brew.

“That was close,” Marlon huffed, running a hand through his styled hair that had gotten damp. “You able to drive through this, Clem?”

Hands gripping the steering wheel tightly, Clementine stared up at the sky from her seat. “Not sure… if it’s just a little rain sure, but if it’s thunder and lightning we may have to stop somewhere.”

“Fantastic,” Louis beamed sarcastically from the passenger seat, adjusting the seat so that he was laying back and letting out a relaxed sigh, not even noticing he was practically colliding into Marlon who sat behind him. 

“Dude! Watch it!”

“You watch it!”

Clementine groaned internally, preparing for a stressful car ride as she started up the vehicle and strolled on out of the parking lot with ease. Soon enough they had been driving for an entire hour, and boy was it a nightmare. Clementine never imagined being alone in a car tagged along with her boyfriend and one of her closest friends would be such a pain in the ass. They constantly bickered at one another, annoyed the girl to the max, sang songs along with the radio that made it obvious the boys didn’t know how to properly sing. It was a disaster. She never expected it to be such a living hell. Eventually, she got the two to shut up and enjoy the ride, but that wasn’t as easy as you think it’d be.

The storm only grew worse as the trio carried on with their journey, it beginning to straight up pour right when they reached the major highway. It rained so much that it was difficult to see the road in front of them. Nearly crashing into the side of the road several times (and endless bickering), Louis insisted with backup from Marlon to Clementine to take the next exit so they could spend the night somewhere that won’t attempt to murder them in the dead of night.

Minutes later the girl found the closest exit to them, taking a swift turn into it and immediately finding themselves at the edge of a town. A town that looked old and well abandoned. When Marlon rolled down to get a better look at the sign that he guessed explained where they were, he was met with a large gust of icy air and had his arm showered in frozen droplets of rain. He was quick to roll the window back up, shivering in his seat from the chill that was now glued onto his body. Clementine slowly drove into the town, having to rely on her headlights as her only light since the street lamps around every corner were either turned off or couldn’t be seen through the storm. 

Eventually the girl parked at the closest thing to a hotel, the hairs on her arms rising upon seeing its condition. There was no sign placked up onto the building stating whether or not it even was a hotel, the bushes underneath the windows that were expected to have freshly grown flowers in them instead had dead leaves and spider webs, and what made things worse for the trio was that the entire town so far had been so… vacant. Not a single person could be seen in sight, not even a singular vehicle either. The buildings surrounding them looked barren too. Brick buildings standing upon their last legs. Trash cans broken into shambles. The whole town was in complete ruins.

“You… really wanna go in there?” Louis hesitantly asked, gesturing to the building in front of them.

“It’s either that or in here.” Clementine pointed out.

Marlon sighed, heaving an umbrella out of his backpack. “Thank god my mom packed me one of these.”

Louis turned around in his seat. “Hold up- your mom packed your bag?” He asked with a snicker to his voice.

“Wh- no! She didn’t!” Marlon’s face turned red, whacking the boy’s shoulder while being clearly embarrassed before opening the car door open with such a force and racing to the building with his umbrella protecting him from the rain.

Once the blond was out of the car, Louis turned back to Clementine. “His mom totally packed his backpack.”

“Oh yeah, totally.”

———

“These beds are so uncomfortable.” Louis whined from the edge of one of the hotel beds.

“Shut up Lou, enjoy at least having one.” Marlon snickered when Louis stuck out his tongue at him.

“Guys, focus for once in your damn lives,” Clementine whipped out her phone, staring deeply at the map displayed on the screen. “It says here we should be somewhere near-”

A gasp from Louis cut Clementine off, and before the girl got a chance to complain, the boy’s phone was suddenly shoved into her face. “Clem! Clem!” He exclaimed excitedly. “Look! We’re in Littleton!”

“Littleton?” Marlon questioned from the other bed in the hotel room. “Isn’t that town, like, abandoned?”

“Supposed to be,” Clementine answered, gently leading Louis’ arm away so she didn’t have to be forced to stare deeply into the screen of his phone. “But hey, maybe we could somehow bring this place back to life. It looks cute, and the scenery is pretty nice.”

“And I heard it’s small,” Louis fiddled with his phone with a smile, glad to hear what his girlfriend is suggesting. “So having a large population won’t be an enormous problem.”

Marlon scratched his chin in thought. Were they serious about this? True, the couple often thought of wild ideas, but so far this is their craziest one yet. Rebuilding an entire town? That could take weeks, even months. Even years. But this was also Clementine and Louis. They never back down from such a task. Even if it’s a tough one, they get it done. They stick together, no matter what.

“Alright, fine,” Marlon eventually said, silently puffing out a long breath. “But I don’t wanna do the hard work.”   
  
“Yes ma’am!” Louis grinned, snuggling into the comforts of the bed he rested on and sighed happily when his head came in contact with the pillow.

“Thank yo- wait hey!”

“Guys just go to  _ sleep _ .” Clementine begged from the bathroom, it coming out a smidge muffled from brushing her teeth. She then slammed the door to the bathroom shut, so that she could at least have a little privacy and some peace.

“Sorry babe!” Louis chortled like a child, huddled close into the sheets of the bed. Marlon narrowed his eyes at his laid down figure from the other bed before getting under his own sheets. He only paused for a moment when he heard his phone vibrate, reaching over and checking the screen.

“Holy shit,” He breathed out, seeing Louis perk his head over. “Apparently others will be joining us.”

“What?”

“Yeah, Brody and Soph are planning on stopping by for their own girl road trip, and Brody convinced Ruby and Aasim to tag along.”

“Well I’ll be damned,” Louis smiled. “You hear that Clem! More people!”

“Shut up and go to sleep!!”

The two boys stared in fear at the closed bathroom door, but quickly obeyed Clementine’s words, switching off the lamps and snuggling into the sheets of their beds. 

“Marlon?” Louis whispered.

“What?” He whispered back.

“Would yelling out to Clem goodnight be a bad idea?”

Marlon was quiet for a moment before speaking up, keeping his voice down to a whisper. “Yes.” He simply said before chucking a pillow at the freckled boy, laughing silently when he heard him groan in pain from the other side.

———

“Man, I’m so hungry I could die.” Louis groaned out loud, collapsing onto the hotel bed while clutching his stomach gingerly. His eyes stared up at the ceiling, cringing slightly at how filthy they were.

Clementine had just exited the bathroom, kicking the boy’s leg lightly. “Lou, get up, we’re about to go find some breakfast.”

Louis perked up among hearing the news. “Wait really?? Fuck yeah!” He instantly got up after that, no longer in pain due to being so hungry. Clementine rolled her eyes at him, grabbing her jacket and wallet off of the dresser. Marlon was nowhere to be seen in the room, nor his stuff. He had already gone down to the car, since he didn’t want to wait in the hotel room any longer for the couple. 

“I hope Marlon didn’t leave without us,” Louis snagged his backpack, strapping it onto his shoulders. “That would’ve broken my heart.” He shedded a fake tear.

The brunette slipped on her jacket, tugging it so it fitted the correct way. “He doesn’t even have the keys, Louis.”

“Oh. Thank god then.” He released a breath he didn’t even know he was holding.

“C’mon, let’s go before-” Clementine suddenly paused in her sentence, patting the pocket to her jacket. Sweat formed at the top of her forehead. “Uh oh.”

“Uh oh what?”

“I uh- I actually did give the keys to Marlon.”

Louis stared at his girlfriend in silence. “I- you’re fucking with me. You’re totally fucking with me. I can sense it. My detector is beeping like wild. It’s going “Bee doh bee doh bee doh bee-”

“Nope, being dead serious.”

“I- Clem, I trusted you…” Louis wiped the edge of his lid dramatically. “Now how ever will we leave this cruel place?” He slapped the back of his hand onto his forehead, eyes shut and head turned away from the girl.

Clementine looked at the boy unamused before slapping his shoulder. “Oh shut it.”

“Woah! Abuse!”

“It’s not abuse!” She scoffed.

“Is too!” Louis suddenly booped the girl’s nose as a distraction to get away, making a beeline out of the hotel room and racing outside. Clementine gawked at him, letting out a war cry before chasing after him down the halls. Right as she reached the door that led outside, however, she bumped right into Louis, who was standing still with the door wide open and gazing at something outside.

“Ow! What gives!”

“Um… Clem?” Louis’ voice seemed confused, but had hints of fear tingling at the tip of his tongue.   


“What?” She said, clearly annoyed that he was blocking the door.

Louis pointed a finger to outside, and when Clementine followed where it was pointing to, her eyes widened upon noticing what her boyfriend was staring at. People. There were people. Everywhere, they just casually walked as if nothing strange had happened. Some were walking dogs, some were holding hands with children, some were just walking by themselves. What was scarier than that was the fact that all the buildings had somehow… been remodeled. They looked fresh, brand new. Paint wasn’t chipping off the walls, dead bushes were replaced with fresh new ones, colorful flowers already blooming on them. Something completely different from yesterday. It was almost as if the town was alive again… somehow.

“Clem?” Louis spoke up to the girl at his side, the fear in his voice increasing. “What the fuck is happening?”

  
  
  



	2. Part Two

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Settling into their vacation spot, Clementine and Louis plan to spend some quality time together, but that all backfires when something mysteriously crazy happens not only to one of them, but both.

Three days had strolled by since the trio arrived at Littleton, West Virginia. Things only got weirder and weirder after that, however, driving the graduates insane. Potted plants changing odd colors, clothing for sale as if it were the 80s, you name it. 

The rest of their friend group arrived only a day after Clementine, Marlon and Louis arrived at the town. Even they all admitted the town was not right, and they had just arrived. As a celebration for their successes and achievements, they all went out for ice cream later that day. But once the whole crew got there, they instantly left, all because of-   
  
“Real worms in ice cream!” Mitch screamed out. “Who the fuck puts live worms in a bucket of ice cream?!”

Pacing around among their motel bedroom, Louis bit the bottom of his lip tensely while the other boy angrily stomped along with him. On the bed sat Clementine, busy typing away on her laptop and not really focusing on her boyfriend’s panic state. 

The bedroom surrounding them was flawless, furnished elegantly and speaking the language the couple never knew a motel room could speak. The beach like teal walls stood out the most, along with the fake plants dangling in terracotta flower pots by the window. The sun was complimenting brightly onto the blue patterned sheeted bed, toasting the yellow and green throw blankets along with Clementine’s exposed legs.

“Anything popping up?”

“Nope, not really,” Clementine continued typing, rather furiously. “I don’t see ‘town is dead but suddenly isn’t the next day’ appearing anywhere on Google.”

Louis puffed out a sigh. What the hell did they get themselves into? All they wanted was to have a relaxed vacation away from their hometown. That’s it! That’s all the freckled boy wanted to do with his bestest of friends! But no, instead they found themselves stuck in a situation they couldn’t even explain properly without sounding completely insane. It would be a miracle if someone believed that a town that had been abandoned for so many years suddenly was birthed back to life again and had grown a whole new population in the span of twenty-four hours, maybe even less. 

“I’m getting nothing from Marlon either,” Louis spoke up, glancing at his phone which displayed no notifications from the boy. “Hope he’s okay with driving around and trying to figure something out.”

“He’s probably fine, maybe he just got lost, or he wanted to drive around more.” Clementine shrugged.

Louis sighed. “Yeah, you’re right. Then again, you’re usually right.” He sent over a wink.

The brunette giggled, swatting his arm. “Oh shut it, you.”

“Nope, never.” He grinned, leaning over and planting a sweet kiss onto her cheek. He grew all fuzzy inside and felt his stomach do a backflip when he launched his lips onto her smooth, soft skin. The feeling only grew larger when his ears perked up to the sound of a heartful laugh coming from the girl.

“Ew, get a room you two,” Mitch alerted them of his remaining presence. He scoffed when Louis stuck out his tongue at him.

“Relax Mitch, you’re just salty because you don’t have a girlfriend.”   
  
“Hey!” Right as Mitch was about to argue, the door to the room opened up, revealing Marlon with a sweaty forehead. “Jeez man, what happened to you?”   
  
“Don’t- don’t talk about it,” The blond wheezed out, strolling into the room and collapsing onto the mattress with a groan. “That was the most stressful drive I’ve ever taken.”   
  
Louis rose a brow. “Why? What happened?”   
  
“It was insane!” Marlon sat up, prepared to shed a story onto the group. “The traffic lights are confusing as hell, no one waits until they’re allowed to walk, and- ugh! I hate this town.” He flopped back onto the bed, choking out a fake cry into the pillow.   
  
The freckled boy beside him pats his arm. “There there Marlon, there there.”   
  
“Well that’s just fucking great,” Mitch angrily huffed. “Why can’t we leave again?”   
  
“Because, we’re on vacation, you guys are just overreacting,” Clementine turned off her laptop, closing it gently. “Now you two, shoo, me and Louis have a planned date today.” She gestured out to Marlon and Mitch.

Mitch was quickly to gawk at the girl. “Excuse me? You can’t just kick us out!”   
  
“Um, Mitch, this is their motel room,” Marlon sat a hand on the boy’s shoulder. “So technically, they can.”   
  
Mitch was silent for a moment before letting out an angry grumble, storming to the door and leaving the room with the stomp of his feet trailing behind him. The trio watched the boy leave, looking at one another with confused looks.   
  
“Well, that happened.”   
  
“He’s just upset that we don’t know the area,” Clementine got off the bed, stretching her arms out. “But he’s not doing anything to help him know the area.”   
  
“I can take him out for a bit, let him see how horrible the streets are.” Marlon suggested.   
  
“Sounds like a plan!” Louis chimed in. “You take Mitch out for the day, and me and Clem can finally have some alone time! Oh, and make sure Mitch doesn’t get himself killed.”   
  
They planned out the day with ease. Marlon left the motel room without a fuss, heading off to find Mitch and spend the day with the boy. The couple stayed in the room, quick to squish up next to each other on the bed once they were finally alone. Peace was something rare for them. With having chaotic friends and family that easily drove them nuts, it was hard to spare some alone time. Now on vacation, however, they were free to do anything. Nothing could ruin their day.

“Um, Louis?”

Having his eyes closed, Louis shifted his head slightly. “Hm?”

“Do you like it here?” Clementine’s voice sounded wary, as if she was hesitant to even ask the question. “And be honest.”

Louis snapped his eyes open, pursing his lips in thought. “I mean, yeah this place is odd and stuff, but hey! I like odd!”   
  
Clementine rolled her eyes. She moved to say something, but instantly paused, her eye catching sight of something she wished they didn’t see. Something inexplicably horrifying. “Uhh… Louis?”   
  
“Yes sweetheart?”   
  
“Why- why is your hand black?”

Clementine’s odd questioning voice caused Louis to glance over at his girlfriend. Catching her terrified face, he raised a brow. “What do you mean? I have colored skin...?”

“No, your hand is  _ black _ black Lou!”

Louis looked down to see what the girl was talking about, and when he saw his head, he let out a piercing scream. She was right. It was, in fact, pitch black. “What the shit?!” Louis scratched at his hand, panicking when the color wouldn’t fade. He glanced up for a moment and opened his mouth to say something, only for his eyes to widen in pure terror and his mouth remained hung open ajar.

“What?” Clementine hesitantly asked upon seeing his wide eyes. That wasn’t good. “Is there something on my face?” She rose her hand to rub her chin, only to pause when she caught sight of it. Her hand was black too. Exactly like Louis’. Letting out a pitched screech at the sight, she too attempted to rub off the strange rapidly spreading stain, only for it to remain put, horrifyingly similar to her boyfriend’s. What the fuck was this?   
  
Louis shot off the bed, racing to the bathroom to try and rinse off the odd stain, only to pause at the mirror. It had spread onto his face. Not only that, it had gotten everywhere. His hair, his skin, even his clothes. His entire body smeared in shades of black and whit and grey. He looked as if he had just jumped straight out of an old-fashioned movie. Wait. That’s it. An old-fashioned movie, the ones without the colors. That’s what the freckled boy looked like. But how?   
  
Rushing back into the room, he was greeted with a panicking Clementine. She too was covered head to toe in the same styled stains, her once pink jacket turned into a dark grey one. Catching sight of her boyfriend, she let out yet another scream, clutching her head in her palms. “What the fuck is going on?!”   
  
“I- I don’t know! How the heck am I supposed to know?!”   
  
“Are we dying?! Is this God’s way of showing that we’re done for?!” The brunette was breathing heavily, chest heaving up and down with every breath while gripping the boy’s arms and shaking him madly while she asked the bizarre question.   
  
Louis took grip of her hands, setting them to her sides before grasping the girl’s shoulders with a firm, supporting grip. “Clem, no. We’re not gonna die! We just- um…” He thought of what to say next. “I don’t know what this is, but we’ll fix it! Okay?”   
  
Clementine stood quiet for a few moments before reluctantly nodding. “Right, right… we’ll be fine, we’ll be- oh my god Lou, we’re done for! It’s so obvious!”   
  
Louis pursed his lips into a thin line. “That’s- that’s the complete opposite of what I just said.”   
  
———   
  
“Ruby! Ruby, we need you!”   
  
The redhead perked her head up among hearing the sound of the door to her shop opening with a swift ding combined with Louis’ pleas. Pausing in her book, she walked on out from the back room and stood behind the counter with a slight pout.   
  
“Louis, what in tarnation is all this- sweet jesus!” Ruby’s eyes widened to the sight of Clementine and Louis, covered head to toe in nothing but black and white. “What the hell happened to you two?”   
  
Louis shrugged, his hand grasping onto his girlfriend’s, who still was in a panicked state. “I- I don’t know, one second we were totally fine, then boom! We’re like this!”   
  
Ruby rounded over in front of the counter, eyeing the couple up and down. Her mind was spinning. She had never seen anything like this. Sure, she’d seen some strange things before, but this? This was new. “Hmm… gimme a second, I’ll see what I can whip up for y’all.” She said before speeding off back through the employee only door.   
  
Louis nodded, turning to Clementine who hadn’t spoken a word yet. “You okay babe?”   
  
It wasn;t long before she nodded slowly. “Just… scared this is permanent.”   
  
Louis leaned over, connected his lips with her own. “It’s not, I promise. Ruby’s gonna help us get rid of it, okay? We’ll be better in no time!”   
  
“Yeah, uh, problem ‘bout that,”   
  
The couple turned to see Ruby emerged from the back room, a book grasped in her hands. Eyebrows furrowed, she flipped through the pages frantically. Seeing the sight made Louis’ stomach do a flip. Having Ruby in such an alarmed state was never a good sign. “Um, explain what that means?”   
  
“Well, there’s no…  _ exact _ cure for whatever you two might have,” She stuck her attention to a certain page, scanning the words to it up and down multiple times. “But there  _ is _ a way it can be treated.”   
  
“No- no cure?!” Clementine began breathing heavily once again, Louis’ grip on her hand tightening once more.

“Not helping, Ruby!”

“Right! Right, sorry!” The redhead flicks through the book again. “Uh- okay, okay, here’s something,” She squinted her eyes to read the page. “Uhhh… what was the last thing y’all did before, y’know, this happened?” She gestured to their colorless bodies. It was obvious she wasn’t used to seeing her friends appear with not a hint of color, she guessed they weren’t used to it either.

“Umm… cuddling?” 

“That- alright,” Ruby skimmed down the page. “Okay, and… did you feel anything funny before realizing y’all’s appearances weren’t, y’know, normal?”

Clementine shook her head. She was  _ still  _ panicking over the whole situation, but she was doing her best to keep cool. Even though it was hard to do. “N-No, I didn’t feel a thing.”

“Louis?”

Louis shook his head, as to agree with the brunette. Ruby huffs to that, gently shutting the book in her palms. “Well, right now I can’t really help ya, since it’s still sorta setting in? But if it continues on for more than a day, come back and I’ll see what I can do for y’all.” And with that, Ruby left the two out in the shop and disappeared into the back room.

Clementine bit her lip. She just kept growing anxious by the second, she couldn’t help it. What if they couldn’t cure whatever this was? What if she and her boyfriend were stuck like this forever? Her thoughts were paused when she felt Louis’ thumb stroke the back of her hand. “We’ll be okay Clem, I promise.”

“I hope so,” She replied back slowly. “I don’t wanna be stuck like this forever…”

Suddenly the sound of the shop door could be heard opening, and in stepped Violet with her girlfriend, Prisha. The two had only been dating for only a month or two yet they looked as if they were already engaged, holding hands and staring lovingly into each other’s eyes.

“Hey, we’re here to-” Violet paused in her sentence when she caught sight of the two in front of them. “Jesus christ, what happened to you two?”

Prisha’s eyes widened at the sight. She definitely wasn’t expecting to see the couple looking like that. “Did you decide to bathe in black paint or something?”

“Very funny Prisha,” Louis rolled his eyes. “But no, we didn’t. We don’t know what happened, actually.”

“Whatever this is, it suits you.”

“Violet,” Prisha gave her a look.

“What? I’m just speaking the truth.”

Ruby returned to the sound of commotion, a pouch detailed with cherry red lace and green stitching. “Ah! There you girls are! I was wondering when you’d get here,” Ruby stepped forward and handed the pouch to Prisha. “Here ya are,”

Prisha gave the redhead a smile, grasping the pouch tight. “Thanks Ruby, you’re the best.”

“Yeah, no kidding,” Violet spoke up, snatching the small pouch from her girlfriend and examining its contents. “I’m gonna be in heaven pretty damn soon.”

Clementine, who had been silent this whole time, finally spoke up. “What does that mean?”

“Oh, Prisha sent me a text not long ago asking ‘bout something that could give Violet unlimited chicken nuggets. Now obviously that’s impossible, but I whipped up something similar to it,”

“Bout to get me some unlimited nuggets! Thanks Ruby, you’re the best!” Was the last thing Violet said before she sped out of the shop, linking arms with Prisha and dragging her along.

“Jesus christ Violet- um, bye guys! Hope you get better! And thanks again Ruby!”

Louis waved goodbye. This was not good. Not good at all. Nothing could be done about this? What the heck were they supposed to do now, wait it out? No way was Louis doing that. There had to be  _ something _ they could do. “Are you sure there isn’t anything we could do Ruby…?”

The redhead sadly shook her head. “I’m afraid not. I’m sorry y’all, really.”

Louis sighed. Saying a simple goodbye, he grasped Clementine’s hand and led them out of the shop on their own. He had to trust Ruby’s word, unfortunately. Keep low until the girl found a way to help them. He hated it. He hated it a lot. But he didn’t want to make it worse. Not only for himself, but also for Clementine.

“Babe?” Clementine’s voice drew Louis back into reality. “We’ll be okay, right…?”

Louis gives her a nod, leaning over and kissing her cheek. “Of course it will, I’ll make sure of it.”

Clementine smiles to that. “Thanks… well, what do we do now?”

“We wait it out, I guess,” Louis gives her an unsure answer. “I don’t know, I’ve never had this sort of thing happen to me.”

The brunette giggles. “That would be quite a story if it had.”

Louis grinned. Boy how he loved Clementine’s laugh. “Hell yeah it would’ve! Man, I can just envision it now, seven year old me running around like one of those actors from an old movie.”

“Why seven year old you?”

“I- that’s a very good question.”

The girl snorts. “You’re such a weirdo. C’mon, let’s go home.”

———

“Ready to watch the movie?”

Clementine snuggled close to her boyfriend, her head resting on his shoulder. “Mhm.”

The rest of the day went by slow. The couple mainly stayed indoors, as to not draw any attention to themselves. It wasn’t all that bad though, they spent the majority of the day together. Omar would swing by every now and then to drop off meals, Marlon would FaceTime them and keep their hopes held up high with a grin. Though the grin would usually fall whenever Mitch could be heard cursing in the background.

“What movie are we watching again?” Clementine asked, staying in her huddled position.

“Dracula! Since, you know, it’s a black and white movie, and-”

“Louis.”

The boy held his hands up in surrender. “Okay okay! I’ll start the movie! Sassy,” 

Clementine rolled her eyes, watching as the movie began to start. She didn’t really pay attention as the scenes went on. Her mind was elsewhere. Worrying about the two of them. Would they stick like this forever? Was there any cure to what happened to them? She wanted answers, she wanted to know if this could be reversed.

“Honey?”

Clementine turned her head to meet Louis’ face, which she caught staring at her with concerned eyes. “You look zoned out. Is everything okay?”

She gave him a short nod. “I’m fine, just worried is all…”

“Don’t be Clem, Ruby’s a smart gal, she’ll figure something out.”

“You think so?”

Louis smiled. “I know so-” He suddenly paused, his eyes growing wide. “Oh my god, Clem!”

Clementine furrowed her brows. “What?? Is something wrong? Oh god, it grew worse didn't it?!”

“No! Look! Your eyes are that beautiful honey color again!”

“What?!” Clementine whipped out her phone, opened the camera app, and looked at herself. She gasped when she saw her eyes suddenly had color to them. Not only that, her whole face did. “Oh my god, Lou!! It’s vanishing!”

“For the both of us too!” Clementine glanced over to see that her boyfriend too had grown back his color, grinning like an idiot as he hugged himself. “Ahh it feels good to be normal!”

“You never changed Lou,” Louis turned his head to see what Clementine meant. “I mean, yeah your skin and shit turned into black and white, but you were still you.”

Louis smiled sweetly. “You didn’t change either. Still had that sassy attitude.”

Clementine snorts. “You’re such a weirdo,”

“Yeah, but I’m  _ your  _ weirdo!”

The brunette sighed happily, cuddling back next to her boyfriend. Seconds of silence passed before she spoke up. “Louis?” 

“Yes, my darling?”

“Promise me you’ll never change.”

Louis looked down and caught Clementine looking up at him. He smiled again, leaning and pressing his lips to her forehead. “Only if you do the same.”

Clementine shot a smile back. “I won’t. I promise.”

  
  
  



End file.
